Chapter 2

Twice in a lifetime will you lose the one you love. I only wish it were so few, eh?

This is Test of Chapter One

Once upon a time there was a dog named Red. 

Not Too Late to Know God's Love

Nobody wanted him. Who would? He walked the streets of Michigan iced cold, emaciated, predominantly hairless, so old, lost and loveless, with cancer undiscovered but ready to jump in and take his broken down body over.

I have always had a heart for the unwanted. But it is one thing to rescue a homeless dog off the streets nearby, or pluck a dog out of a nearby shelter. It is another thing entirely to have a dog flown clear across the country on two, two-seater volunteer piloted planes to join my already plentiful menagerie of homeless dogs. This I did, however, and the lesson I learned is unforgettable. 

My sweet Angel Gabriel. God dropped him down into my life from the heavens, only to gently lift him back up just a few short months later. Cancer ravaged his body – his head to be exact. But nothing stopped me as I watched him grow back his hair and weight from seeing the beauty of loving the loveless.

Though I was so imperfect at loving at the time, though I fell so far short with the dogs back then I wondered why I did the work I did at all, I did my best to pour into Angel Gabriel the love the Lord poured out to me.

I didn’t just take a fancy to Angel Gabriel. He became one of my all-time favorites. Even deaf, he could hear me. He watched for my hand signals, but most importantly he heard the love I gave him.

See, it wasn’t too late to know God’s love for Angel Gabriel. He came to discover it through me. When it was nearly time to send him to heaven, the Lord spoke to my broken heart.

“Who are you to hold him back from being with me?” I crumpled, devastated. But I had come to understand.

No matter how downtrodden Angel Gabriel had become, God had been there to rescue him and to dish out plentiful helpings of love – through me.

I think of myself, and so many others. So many think it’s too late to know love. But with God, it is not too late. He stands waiting for us to turn to him as Angel Gabriel turned to me.

By all means, Angel Gabriel should have been too far gone to trust a human. But he trusted me for everything he needed – most especially love.

God asks us to do the same – to trust Him for everything we need. All He asks is though deaf we may have been to His love, that we watch His hand signals, His heart signals, and come follow Him.

I released Angel Gabriel into the hands of the Lord. He lives in heaven now with the Lord Himself. One day I will see him again, I am quite sure. In the meantime, I will always remember the lesson I learned from Angel Gabriel.

It is not too late to know the Lord’s love.

The Distance the Lord Will Go

“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” Revelation 3:20 KJV

Covered in feces. Filth. Grime. Grit. Matts. Shivering. Hair so long she couldn’t see out, and nobody could see in. Nobody wanted to anyway. Five pounds of abandonment, neglect, rejection, and, soon, euthanization. Waiting on a cold, cement floor in her prison cell block like shelter in rural Ohio.

I drove 16 hours in a single day to rescue one dog. She was not the one. I came home with several. I was not allowed to take her. I was haunted by her brokenness. One day later, I called the shelter to apologize for my bad attitude. How could I not be angry at what I had seen? I had so much yet to learn about love and forgiveness.

The shelter said I could have her. Sixteen more hours of driving in a single day, 48 hours after my first trip. A snow storm. Bumper to bumper traffic at midnight. I accomplished my mission. She was safe, loved, and lived for only a very short time after.

 “Why God would you send me that far to pick up a dog that lived so short a time when there are so many dogs closer by?”

His answer was simple. “That is the distance I will go for you,” He told me.

How could I argue? Nothing will ever compare to the distance the Lord has gone to rescue me. He walked across forever to hang on the cross for the world’s sins, but He didn’t stop there. He has never stopped waiting for the world He died to put its trust in Him.

The Lord rescued me and placed His heart in mine. Now I want to go the distance with Him – denying myself, taking up my cross, and telling you, “He wants to rescue you. Surrender. Open the door of your heart and let Him in. It is not too late. He is waiting for you. Answer Him. Come home.”